Jurors Forced into a Guilty Verdict
In most situations, juries are required to reach a unanimous verdict - which means that every juror must either find the defendant guilty or not guilty. The exception to this rule in NSW is ‘majority verdicts’, which allow verdicts of...
Police Officer Charged With Murder
We invest billions of dollars every year into police forces nationwide. We give officers immense power, lethal weaponry and entrust them to uphold the law. But one Melbourne police officer is alleged to have betrayed that trust by taking the...
Four Arrested for Radicalising Teenage Shooter
Four men have been arrested in raids across Western Sydney after the fatal shooting of a police employee in Parramatta last week. More than 200 police officers raided properties in Wentworthville, Merrylands, Guilford and Marsfield early in the morning, arresting...
Top 10 Offences For Which People Go to Prison
When you think of prison inmates, you might conjure up images of ‘hardened criminals’ locked away for violent and abhorrent crimes, like murder and paedophilia; but the fact is that many are in prison for non-violent offences. Rising Prison Population...
Margaret Cunneen: Barristers Are Not an ‘Old Boys’ Club’
Top criminal law barrister Margaret Cunneen SC is used to having the finger pointed at her. Last year, she found herself the subject of an ICAC inquiry after she allegedly advised her son’s partner, Sophia Tilley, how to influence a...
Sleeping Killers: What Does the Law Say?
The criminal law is called upon to deal with all kinds of bizarre and unlikely scenarios, including situations where people kill while asleep. Although it may sound like a horror movie plot, homicidal sleepwalkers have been well-documented for centuries –...
Mental Health and Criminal Law: The Benefits of Psych Reports
Have you been charged with a criminal offence while you were struggling with a mental health problem? Sometimes, you can raise a mental illness defence and be found ‘not guilty’ on that basis. In other situations, a ‘mental condition’ can...
Legal Aid Pays Criminal Defence Lawyers Peanuts
For years, criminal defence lawyers have been highlighting the unfairness of a well-resourced prosecution - equipped with Senior Barristers and seemingly endless experts - prosecuting defendants without access to funds for top-notch lawyers or their own experts. The case of...
10 Tips on Starting Your Own Criminal Law Firm
I established my own law firm 14 years ago - less than three years after being admitted as a lawyer. I made many mistakes along the way, but the firm has grown exponentially because – unlike the firms I worked...
Predicting Crimes in Advance
Technology is constantly evolving in all walks of life, including law enforcement. CCTV footage, telephone intercepts, DNA profiling and GPS tracking have all become an integral part of the police force’s crime fighting artillery. And starting this October, Japanese giant...
